Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Earlier this week we took our usual loop walk and came upon the biggest elk herd we'd ever seen up here. Determined not to upset them, we double backed on our route and wandered around on the rim of the mesa top, as far as we could get from them. And just as we were getting to the fence we have to wiggle under to get home, there was a whole other herd of elk jammed up against the very fence. The babies were going through the middle of the barbed wire fence, the same way Molly does. That's a baby in the picture above. You don't get a sense of the large herd size which was just flowing over the fence.

Since that day we haven't seen them at all, haven't seen any elk-- or moose-- or bear. We're leaving (on schedule) tomorrow at dawn to head back to Northridge. We hate to leave this place and hope to return in September. But Jon may have some work.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

We haven't seen a bear up here all summer, but lately the signs are increasing, and this is one strong bear. This is typical of what we've been seeing: 16 foot dead logs rolled several feet, with one end scooped out. All that work to eat termites.

It sometimes looks as if this bear is working only about 20 minutes ahead of us on the trail.

As I look around my little office here I realize the sad truth, I've become one of those middle aged ladies who collects bears. I'm not even going to show you a picture of this desk.

I finally finished the gigantic stack of British detective/crime novels and am rereading "Lonesome Dove." I love this book. I could barely (bearly?) tear myself away to type this.

Just learned of the 5.4 earthquake in Chino Hills. I hope it's not a foreshock earthquake, because we're heading back to L.A. on Thursday.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Ridgway is a Western town that never seems to have quite found its identity. It has building spurts and building busts, and half the town is for sale or for rent. The restaurant "True Grit" is dedicated to John Wayne. But next door is a little shop that sells (or would like to sell) loose tea and herbs. They have concerts in the town park in the summer. We had lunch outside at Kate's today, on the way to the dump.

The group above hadn't ordered yet. The median age was probably 65, and they looked like City Market shoppers but they were so NEW AGE! and NUTZ!

The gray guy told the waitress, "These are all my wives." (There's another one who'd had a stroke, not pictured.) The waitress only thought it was mildly funny. Mormon jokes don't always play well in Western towns. But this group seemed to be locals.

The very heavy redhead arrived late and ordered a salad. She was starting a course in the morning that was spiritual, we think. Her friends asked how much it cost to take it, and she said, "Oh, she just wants a love donation." The others were thinking of taking the course too, because the trainer was such a beautiful person. Or maybe they just wanted to make love donations.

The gray guy kept referring to his earthship. At first we thought he was just a far gone space boy, then we realized he'd bought Dennis Weaver's Earthship, an ultra far out and multi million dollar strange home built of recycled tires. For years after Weaver died it didn't sell. Supposedly snakes had found the tires ideal as homes and would drop out from the ceiling, but that may just be Ridgway urban legend. The gray guy was considering trading his earthship for a condo in Telluride.

The gal with the baseball cap lives in a motorhome. She said they wouldn't let her park it at the supermarket in Telluride. She talked about bringing canvas bags to the market instead of recycling, that you were doing a lot more for the world by bringing the bags. (How about not tooling around the countryside in the motorhome, hon?)

But the big gal in the center was the choice one. She'd recently quit her job after two months because she discovered that electromagnetic waves were turning her purple. This is what she said. She wasn't purple at the restaurant.

She went on. "I can't use a cordless phone, I can't use a cel phone. I can't even open a refrigerator." (Someone is obviously opening it for her.) She can't go near a computer because of the waves. She described other symptoms which were unpleasant, aside from turning purple.

But, but, she's found a possible solution. There are clip-on devices you can buy-- it takes two for each offending appliance, but they scramble the magnetic signal so you don't get sick.

We talked it over after we left the restaurant, and both of us had heard it just like this.

Friday, July 25, 2008

We went back on our usual 'out the back door walk' today and were amazed to come upon an elk herd of at least FIFTY cows and babies. There were so many it was almost creepy. When they'd move on it was a sea of elk!

The babies were making this eerie squealing noise whenever they moved. We didn't see a bull elk but he had to be there.

We stayed far enough away that Molly didn't get worked up. Besides she'd already gotten a little beat up by a neighbor's mastiff at the start of the hike. But that's another story.

We tried our best to keep out of the elk herd's way-- it's so amazing they've decided to stay on our mesa top. But it seemed wherever we went, there they were. In fact Jon said, "Let's just sit here, and see if they come back this way."

Thursday, July 24, 2008

The weather here is moving into the mountain monsoons, where every day there's a chance of thunderstorms from noon on. They can be very dramatic.

We managed to take a long and exhausting walk before they hit today. It's a hike I approach with trepidation: my first dog Felix ran away forever while I was on this walk with my sister.

It goes up and down on a narrow trail and you never see anything but bear p@@p and pine needles. Also a big huff and puff walk for us, (but not for Molly), because of the altitude and age of human participants.

I think the reason we never see other hikers up here must be that most people who hike in this area are into extreme sports, conquering the 14,000 ft peaks and so on. Whereas we just shuffle along looking at the wildflowers and hoping to surprise something.

On the drive back we found out what had happened to the sheep that were formerly right across the canyon: they'd moved on to greener pastures.

Can't exactly say the same for us: in a week we're headed back for August in Northridge, an action crammed trip before we return to our mountain hideaway. It will include a trip to Florida and New Jersey. Put that together-- that's three spots most people would try to avoid in August.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

I was about to roll the dough for a birthday blueberry pie when I discovered I'd never gotten my three pie pans back after Thanksgiving. So I baked it in a frying pan which cooks it a little too fast. Premium dog foods these days have extra ingredients like blueberries in them, which is why Molly looks so intense. The day wasn't so great.

Dinah called from the airport in Costa Rica. She and her boyfriend are there for ten days. The rental car company was insisting on a $1000 rental car deposit which they couldn't come up with and still continue on their way! She was using the desk phone at the rental company. I spent two hours on the phone with Bank of America trying to get her some money, and in the process cleaned out my account and then some.

I was lucky that I had a phone tech person who was smart,nice and patient, because it was a tricky thing to work out and it would have been so easy to lose my temper. I stayed on the line afterwards to participate in one of those stupid surveys because this woman was so nice.

So I was mostly sleepless last night.

Today we took an easy hike at one of our favorite spots: Woods Lake.

But I checked the weather in Costa Rica instead of Placerville. I won't do that again.

We got caught in a tremendous thunderstorm at our picnic destination. Thunder, lightning, tall trees, open meadows, hailstones, the works!So instead if eating our nice lunch of fried chicken and watermelon under the pine trees, we stood soaked and huddled as big hailstones wailed down on us, turning the ground white. Molly hated the hail, because it hit so hard. We were completely drenched.

We'd left our rain parkas in the car, and brought a book on flower identification instead.

It's four hours later, we're home and dry and I'm still really cold. We had to run past a whole FIELD of wild strawberries without stopping. On the drive back we saw that the storm had left actual snow, not hail, by the side of the road.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Jon wanted a rest on Sunday from the daily hike, so Molly and I set out at 5:45 to look for the elusive moose. It was just barely daylight, and Molly stayed close for a long time.

The cattle were back, so we had to vary our route to avoid them. The moose was nowhere. We followed the fence line west, through the aspen. Molly was very excited by a smell, and trotted keenly, nose to ground.

When we got to the V tree, I knew I was next to the span of barbed wire that was easiest to cross. But as I looked ahead, I saw a pale wolf like creature walking slowly in front of us., not towards us, but in front of us. Molly had stopped too.

I called Molly back with an urgent voice and made her lie down. I was shaking, because I've been stalked by coyotes in L.A. But this creature looked peaceful. I got out my binoculars, I focussed on it. It was sitting by an aspen tree and it was the same color. Its eyes were squinty like a Chow's and it looked totally at ease. In fact it seemed to be grinning at us.

I was shaking when I took this picture. When I got home I was sure I could see the coyote in the picture, but when I looked at it tonight, nothing, there's no coyote there...

What was I thinking? What did I see?

There aren't wolves around here, there aren't any wolves in Colorado. But there aren't white coyotes either, according to my Audubon book.

I made a big loud noise before we crossed the fence, and hiked on in wide open area.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

The stands weren't exactly packed-- maybe the colored lights of the carnival next door were too much competition. Or maybe not, since at least half the audience was under 25 and looking bored. There were a lot of white teenage mothers with babies --"we won't have no sex ed in our school."

The snack bar seemed to be the thing, though the food choices were snow cones, chips and hot dogs. Snow cones seemed to be the snack of choice. Oh, and Budweiser beer.

The rodeo gets huge support from the local merchants, and cowgirls galloped around carrying banners for boosters like Peaks Real Estate and Bruin Waste Management. After each event a cowgirl would gallop around once more with the appropriate sponsor's flag. They had decent cash prizes for each event: $1300.

But rising gas prices are hard on rodeos: it costs a lot to travel hundreds of miles from rodeo to rodeo, with a big pickup pulling a horse trailer. So the competition this year was mostly local and definitely not professional. In many of the events there would only be one cowboy or roping team who even had a qualifying ride. They'd either fall off too soon or not get the rope around the running calf. When they fell off their bucking mounts they looked more dazed than the pros ever do.

The barrel racing was the most fun to watch, with women running their quarter horses as fast as possible around three barrels, without knocking them over, then dashing for home. I wish I'd had a chance to do this when I was younger. It must be a blast. Some of the barrel racing ponies look so excited as they enter the ring that their riders can barely control them.

Creepiest honor definitely went to the rodeo clown. If you've been to a rodeo, you know that the rodeo clown is a dangerous job. The clown is there to distract any bucking horse or bull after the rider comes off, and the clownoften has to run for his own life while wearing a ridiculous outfit.

They also are given way too much time to fill with unfunny clown antics and voiceover by the baritone announcer. Example: an extended gag about a booby trap that turned out to be a bra.

During one of the events this clown came up in the stands looking for young children to volunteer for his halftime act. Up close he looked even creepier. About thirty children ran off after him. Some of their parents began to look a little bewildered when they still weren't back after fifteen minutes.

Then the act began.

It was a gunslinger act, using broomsticks, fingers, and looud sound effects.

The clown called up the children one at a time. They stepped a certain number of paces apart, and then pretended to draw guns, with a loud pow each time, resulting in the child falling on its back playing dead on the ground. Then the clown's subclown, his backup used in the bull riding event,would haul the child off to the side. As more children were "shot", they were piled on top of one another.

It got worse. There was still a big group of kids waiting behind the main clown, waiting for their turn at gunslinging. But there were too many of them. So then the two clowns pretended to shoot all the kids at once, and they all fell over and lay on the ground.

Let's see, this is Norwood, Colorado.

Um, wasn't Columbine in Colorado?

It was unbelievably creepy. And no one seemed to be bothered by it but us.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

It's Norwood rodeo weekend, and we walk into the Lone Cone at 5:30 so we don't have to eat the junk at the fairground. The place is usually empty, but tonight it's packed, big tables of six people or more. It's the only restaurant in town , and it's a saloon on the other side of the wall. Tables are filled by farm families including babies and grandpa. The mother at the table next to us is a ringer for Cindy McCain and looks really pissed off. She orders iced tea and a salad. People are talking about hay and Paradox (a town nearby) and bad dogs.

There's a loud mouthed blonde behind us who wants to shoot her dogs. A guy walks in and taunts her, "Is that your Obama sticker on the van outside?" She knows him. "Hey, when are you going to take down those campaign stickers out in Paradox?"

"They're still up? My guys were supposed to get them all down."

She calls him by his last name and then we know who he is: a Democrat who was running for state office a while back. We know someone who was working on his campaign. But the candidate had to drop out after he got in an ugly bit of trouble: broke into his pregnant girlfriend's apartment and stabbed her photo with a knife, then puncheded her wall and her car's windshield and did a couple other weird and unpleasant things.

It looks as if they're still a couple. She's incredibly beautiful, a tall thin brunette with sharp features and huge eyes, no makeup. Maybe she's Scandinavian-- she just looks really different.The ex-candidate, on the other hand, seems all wrong for the part. He's tall and rumpled looking, balding, with glasses, could be a school principal or a guy who sells cars in a small Western town, and not very successful at it. Maybe he's Irish. They have a pretty toddler who's playing with a cel phone.

Our burgers come, and everyone's settling down. We hear the pretty wife talking about GERMAN SHEPHERDS. It's a small dining room. Jon turns around and says, "We have a German Shepherd." And soon he's telling them that Molly's dad is a K-9 dog in Cortez. The former candidate says, "I think your dog's dad busted my friend last week."

End of that conversation!

The blonde calls out to the ex, "You coming to the big lunch tomorrow?""Yeah," he says, "Are you serving it?""Yeah, and we may even let Democrats in this year."

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Looks like an orchid to me, but I couldn't find it in my wildflower book. I've never seen another one, and it was all by itself on today's hike. The bottom part was quite bulbous.

Identifying plants and animals can be tricky. Like this hawk, right by the side of the road, but by the time I got the camera out of the backpack, lens cover off, passed it to Jon who complained it was on the wrong setting-- well the bird wouldn't show its face.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

(a quick sketch- internet's been down since the thunderstorm started at 2 pm until just now)

We went on a long walk this morning, the reverse direction we usually head in, and poked around places we haven't been in a long time. It was hot, and dry, and we saw no mammals at all, just a few bluebirds. It was strangely silent, no breeze, no coyotes singing.

As we were getting close to our refreshment point on the walk, the Lightning Lounge, right before the hill to home, Molly took off into the aspen. I was in front, so Jon couldn't see what was going on, just saw her running.

I saw a huge male UNGULATE with big antlers. It was a solid brown color, and not a mule deer. I thought it was an elk, a bull elk. It crashed away with Molly in pursuit and us calling her back. She didn't come at first.

What I noticed was: it was as big as a horse. It didn't run as fast as female elk do. It was silent. Its antlers were covered with something soft.

And as I thought about it, because this happened very fast, the antlers weren't sharp pointed, rather they were rounded. But this was a back view and memory rewind of a fleeing animal.

Molly came back. If only I could remove her memory card and pop it into the computer to see just what it was.

Elk or Moose?

We thought the elk on the mesa had gone away, but in the last week saw a small herd again. The cattle were only up there for a short time, maybe just to prove the land is used for ranching. I've been poring through my animal guide books this afternoon.

A neighbor told us a moose had been seen up here last year and I just laughed it off. They've been reintroduced into Colorado though, and one was documented walking through town south of here, in Norwood, where we're going to the rodeo on Friday, where the dessert contest was held.

When you see an animal you've never seen before, you tend to identify it according to what you've already seen. Like when I saw a mountain lion while on horseback, I thought, "what a strange deer, with that long tail and those small ears."

Sunday, July 13, 2008

I ordered Lynda Barry's "What It Is" but cannot get into it at all. What's the matter with me? I know it should make me inspired. But everything looks so hairy, and the colors are ugly.

There's a dessert contest in Norwood today. The entrants sign in between 3 and 5, judging's at 5, and dessert sampling is at 7. I surely would like to be there, but it's 40 minutes away and a thunderstorm is about to begin. I was going to take pictures there for my friends the sugar hounds as well as sample. They say it's one of the most popular events in the town. Next year.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Today was the annual homeowners meeting. In the past these events have been very acrimonious, but this year the trouble makers were either staying home, on the run, or in foreclosure, and it was a very pleasant event.

Since no one volunteered their own home for the meeting, it was held squatter style at our shed. (the new recreation center.) Thus there was no need for burnt coffee cake or condiments. Earlier in the year I was hoping to lease a mule and keep her in this pasture, but we never got that plan launched. Long ago I brought lovely Luna, my first horse, up here for a summer.

As the day wore on the smoke from the California fires got so thick the mountains were barely visible.

Friday, July 11, 2008

The skies have gotten really dark and thunder is rumbling so I'm not doing anymore on the tank today. I decided to experiment with Painter's liquid watercolor feature. It was SO liquid I tried to tilt the laptop to get it to stop running.

Here's where I left off on the submarine. Did a sketch in Painter using a photo of Molly turned into an oil painting and pasted over the tank image-- crutch,crutch, then started painting but I need a magenta to get the right colors.

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

I'd read there was a new hike in Ouray called the Perimeter trail which just opened this year, and it sounded like a hike we could manage, so we headed over there today. It was estimated as a three hour hike.

It started for us at some beautiful waterfalls, then went higher, and higher, and higher. Molly found a baby elk so after that she had to stay on the leash. At first the sounds of the town were quite loud, but then more and more distant. It went through pretty wooded areas and over streams, then onto bare rock. The trail was well marked so we weren't getting lost. But a lot of huff and puff.

When we got onto the open rock fields I was getting a little uncomfortable. Why would anyone want to climb Mount Everest? Wide open spaces with big drops are not my favorite places. I guess it's VERTIGO!

So far, so good, just a nice hike, right? But then--

There's a famous gorge in Ouray, hundreds of feet deep. A hot spring waterfall plunges down the gorge. It's the big attraction in the town.

Our trail took us way up at the top of the gorge. There's a BRIDGE across the gorge, made of iron MESH, so you can see all the way to the bottom. The bridge is very old, considered an engineering miracle.

We were sure Molly wouldn't be able to cross it, but really, Molly wasn't the problem. I tried first, got about ten steps across and felt weak and returned. There's mesh on both sides of the fence to waist height. There's a light breeze (read fierce wind)Ever since the Northridge Earthquake I've had fear of heights. (more so than of earthquakes!)

I tried again, crouching across the bridge, got maybe eight steps and returned. Meanwhile tourists are just strolling back and forth like it's nothing! And I look like I'm practicing an army maneuver.

Jon crosses the bridge now, hands tight on the side mesh and sort of crouching. He makes it across. He tells me I can do it. Tourists are saying, "Just don't look down." Molly is getting anxious because she doesn't like separation of humans and he's on the other side. But I know she doesn't like walking over any kind of metal webbing-- most dogs don't. But we cross it, and get to the other side, where I kid you not there is a CAVE you have to walk through.

I hate the whole idea of CAVES! You have to crouch down and walk through this one. It's about 200 feet long. Other people are coming the reverse way and they think Molly's a wolf and squish themselves against the cave wall. There are no lights, just the light at the end of the cave where you emerge.

And then! it's a super skinny trail going down steeply with a cliff drop on one side, and a cable on the other that you're supposed to hold onto as you make your way down. And I'm walking with a dog on a leash which only adds to the instability.

WHEW!

This picture doesn't give you a clue of scariness because you can't see the bridge in its flimsy exposure.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

It's been hard to get going on the submarine because of a big wave of procrastination that swept over the tank, and also the weather here, with "scattered thunderstorms" predicted every day. With latex paint you need time for it to dry, and latex doesn't like second coats when the first coat is still wet, so there are some contributing factors.

I got stray g's beautiful book of dog drawings and am using a drawing of Lulu (r.i.p.) as model for one of the windows. We're putting all the pets we've ever had in Colorado on the submarine. Pixie's going in the back window, and Molly's the captain. Here's Molly posing for the sketch.

stray g's drawing of Lulu on left, and my rough sketch.

Lulu's next to Felix. They each had their evil side. He needs a lot of work. They're all just roughed in now. He's already got his jailor suit.

My two favorite Chows, Christy and Applejack, are on this side. I don't have any pictures of them up here, and my memory results in more primitive images. But all will improve on the second coat, that's what I keep telling myself. (If only I'd bought a can of red paint too.)

Pixie wishing you all a safe journey! She'll get a hand tomorrow I hope.

Monday, July 07, 2008

I had this very static dream about popcorn-- I was holding a bag that said "kick me."

I've thought about it since. We watched a Charlie Chaplin Mutual short last week, and it was very funny. (of course.) One of the things Charlie does especially well is kick people in the rear end when they're not looking.

Then I started wondering. Did people used to kick each other more than they do now? Was this some relic from country life or the old country? Or just a stage/vaudeville bit of business? I mean, even though there are all sorts of expressions for "a good kick in the pants" etc., did you ever actually see someone kick someone else?

All I can remember is taping signs on the backs of unsuspecting school mates.

Sunday, July 06, 2008

We drove down to Ridgway for the races yesterday, and had time to eat lunch at Kate's, a cafe that we'd heard about. We got a nice table outside with an umbrella, and just as I took the first bite of the reuben sandwich, crash, bang, the thunderstorm started. It still seemed fine, if a little scary, until the water started rushing off the umbrella and down the back of my shirt. We ate fast. I always feel a little more confident with rubber soles, but can go into mega thunderstorm panic also.

When we got to the track it was so empty, and there were huge gushing rivulets in the track itself. The grandstand consists of planks of wood on a dirt bank. It cost $139 to build in 1898 and might cost about that now.

It took forever for the races to get underway. Finally the cute cowgirl galloped around with her flag while someone sang the National Anthem.

Then we got a look at the horses in the first race: two year olds. A Navajo guy joined his buds behind us and gave them the inside scoop that the number two horse was the one to pick in this race. Since our friend Tom had said put $5 on the number two horse in the first race, I figured it was a sure thing. You can only bet to win in these races-- 2nd and third means nothing.

So the horses come parading by so we can choose our horse-- only four in the race, but one horse, Mariposa, has no rider.

Hey, who needs jockeys?

She's running wildly around the track, and none of the rodeo cowboys (who sponsor the event) can catch her. Back and forth she goes, and the other three horses are spooking.

Finally the cowboys wrangle her. This horse has been running for five minutes!

They manage to load them in the gate after awhile, and guess what, this horse wins!

In horse racing this is totally nuts-- any horse who blows its wad before entering the gate is sure to be the last one across the finish line-- but not this nutso filly. Loved it. Mariposa, my pretty little filly... Oh and she bucked off her jockey after they crossed the finish line too.

We stayed for two more races and I picked the winners both times, yay me, based on looking at the horse rather than leaning backwards and listening to Navajo tips.

While waiting to claim earnings at the back window, various women standing with me, who'd picked winners, said they always pick based on the name. "I'm from the South, so I picked Rebel." I met someone who only bets on horses with food names. What the heck, it's all a horse race. At a funky race like this, I look for jockeys, conformation (horse bod), and emotional state of horse as it goes by. Since Mariposa went by jockey-less, it was harder to choose her!

Friday, July 04, 2008

The streets were crowded, the town was excited. It's always an eccentric parade.

It started out with thrilling low level flyovers, first by a pair of WW2 P51s, then unnamed National Guard planes in sequence, voom, wow, amazed they even appeared in my photo. I scream when they fly over, it's such a thrill.

But what was with all the baby floats this year, and the total absence of funny or satiric floats except for one? Young couples in Telluride are reproducing like it's 1949.

The ostrich bikes were attractive, even when unoccupied.

When you're in the second row, sometimes you see things you wish you hadn't.

Like this view of Texas...

This poor guy didn't get to ride with his buddies.

This was the ONLY funny parade entry, and it was mourning the death of Bozo the Clown.

We had lunch in the park and then came home. Molly was locked in the house, and the fireworks won't start until almost 10. How was your fourth?